Friday, March 22, 2013

The James Library

by Sheila Connolly

Last week I
wrote about Carnegie libraries, which started me thinking about the libraries
in my life.

I was an
early reader. In fact, I can't remember
not being able to read. My mother claims
I read street signs to her when she drove me places, not that I remember
that. She too was a reader, so there was
always reading material around the house, including the large-format glossy
magazines of the day—Life, Look, The
Saturday Evening Post. I still miss
those.

My first
library experience did not end well. As
I've said here before, when we moved to a new town, the year I was five, my
mother took me to get a library card, and I took good care of it. However, somewhere along the way there was
some miscommunication: I thought that
once you took the books out of the library, they were yours to keep. Which does not explain why I hid them under
my bed. My mother confiscated my library card, and I still rankle at the
memory.

Later she
relented, and I usually had a library card for whatever town we lived in (we
moved around a lot). Of course, my
mother had to do the driving then. At least she supported my reading addiction
(and probably hers as well). And there were always school libraries, although
as I recall they limited the number of books you could take out at one time,
which was never enough for me. It wasn't until I was in my teens that I lived
close enough to the local library to walk there.

When we
moved to Madison, New Jersey, in the 1960s, there was a delightful old library
in town, which I used regularly (remember when you had to do real live research
for school papers?). However, apart from admiring the architecture now and then
(and marveling at the opaque glass floors in the stacks, which I found
unsettling), I didn't think much about it.
On a whim I looked it up when I was checking out Andrew Carnegie, and I
found something that surprised me.

The James
Library opened in 1900, the gift of D. Willis James, who in addition to funding
the granite and limestone structure also stocked the library with 5,000 books. I never even knew the library had a name—it
was the The Library. And I certainly had
no idea who D. Willis James was. What
kid or teenager thinks about the history of his or her town? (Well, I did know
that Madison was once known as Bottle Hill because of the tavern located there
in the 18th century.)

So I looked
up Mr. James, who turns out to have been Daniel Willis James, age 68, iron
merchant, living on Madison Avenue (as I did, but not exactly in the same
neighborhood) in 1900. He was a corporate mogul with a variety of mining and
railroad interests. When he died in
1907, he was one of the hundred wealthiest men in America. Maps show that he and his wife owned a nice
chunk of land on the north side of town, the site of his summer home, built in
1885. Anyway, this civic-minded
gentleman gave the town a library.

But that's
not the whole story. Mr. James also
built a commercial building across the street (called the James Building, no
surprise) whose purpose was "to provide income for the Library's
maintenance and operation." Funny—I remember the James Building almost as
well as I remember the library. It had a
ballroom upstairs, where I attended a couple of meetings; a music store, where
I had one of my first jobs, bartering for guitar lessons; and downstairs, a
hair salon where I had my hair done for the junior prom. There was a drugstore
with a soda fountain on the corner. In short, it was an important part of the
town.

What is so
lovely is that Mr. James did not just hand a gift to the town and walk
away. He was a smart businessman and
made sure that the library's expenses would be covered in the future. Both
buildings are still standing, although the library building now houses a small
museum; the town built a new library on the other side of town shortly after I
left for college.

Like
Carnegie, James (who attended school in Scotland) believed in contributing to
his community, which he did in many ways.
We were and are lucky that they both thought libraries were important.
And what's more, they both created memorable settings for learning and reading.

41 comments:

A wonderful story, Sheila. What amazes me beyond that is that I had no idea you lived in Madison. Did you know any Lockharts? Hugh, Anne, or Mary? They lived on Central (Ave, I think). Hugh is my beau of going on ten years! His father Roy was chair of the math department and coached tennis. Small world indeed...

Sheila, I loved your thoughts on the importance of the library to the community. I grew up in a small town in upstate New York and the library and the arts center were famous landmarks to me, places of discovery and generosity. All those books! For free! They are both still there, anchoring the town, keeping up with the times, and still smelling slightly musty.

Sheila, loved your post about libraries. I, too, blogged about libraries in my life and town for the same reasons--interesting history, played a huge part in my life, and now a center of town activity. My hometown of Galesburg, Illinois built a Carnegie library. The library in my currrent town started as a "reading room." It is a wonderful place!

My favorite library in these parts is the A.K. Smiley Library in Redlands, CA. Truly amazing architecture with rich carved wood inside, stained glass, and wonderful nooks. Old libraries are like old friends; great to visit.

Admiring the time and energy you put into your website and detailed information you present.It's nice to come across a blog every once in a while that isn't the same unwanted rehashed information. Excellent read!I've bookmarked your site and I'm including your RSS feeds to my Google account.

Great beat ! I would like to apprentice while you amend your web site, how can i subscribe for a blog website? The account aided me a acceptable deal. I had been a little bit acquainted of this your broadcast provided bright clear idea

I know this if off topic but I'm looking into starting my own blog and was wondering what all is required to get set up? I'm assuming having a blog like yours would cost a pretty penny?I'm not very internet smart so I'm not 100% certain. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. Appreciate it

Great beat ! I wish to apprentice while you amend your website, how can i subscribe for a blog website?The account aided me a acceptable deal. I had been tiny bit acquainted of this your broadcast offered bright clear idea

It is appropriate time to make some plans for the future and it's time to be happy. I have read this post and if I could I want to suggest you few interesting things or suggestions. Maybe you can write next articles referring to this article. I want to read more things about it!

I do not know if it's just me or if perhaps everybody else encountering issues with your blog. It appears as if some of the text on your posts are running off the screen. Can somebody else please provide feedback and let me know if this is happening to them too? This might be a issue with my internet browser because I've had this happen before.Appreciate it

That is very interesting, You're an excessively skilled blogger. I've joined your rss feed and sit up for in quest of extra of your excellent post. Additionally, I've shared your web site in my social networks

Do you mind if I quote a few of your posts as long as I provide credit and sources back to your weblog? My blog is in the very same niche as yours and my users would definitely benefit from a lot of the information you present here. Please let me know if this alright with you. Appreciate it!

What i don't realize is actually how you're not actually much more well-favored than you may be now. You're very intelligent. You recognize thus considerably in the case of this matter, produced me personally consider it from numerous various angles. Its like men and women aren't interested until it is something to do with Woman gaga!Your individual stuffs excellent. All the time take care of it up!

I've been browsing on-line more than 3 hours today, yet I by no means found any fascinating article like yours. It's pretty worth enough for me.In my view, if all site owners and bloggers made just right content material as you did, the internet can be much more helpful than ever before.

Thank you for any other magnificent article. The place else may just anybody get that type of info in such an ideal manner of writing? I have a presentation next week, and I'm at the look for such info.

I've been browsing on-line greater than 3 hours lately, but I never discovered any interesting article like yours. It is beautiful price sufficient for me. In my opinion, if all website owners and bloggers made just right content material as you probably did, the net will likely be much more useful than ever before.

What's Going down i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I've discovered It positively useful and it has aided me out loads. I am hoping to give a contribution & aid different customers like its aided me.Good job.

Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wished to say that I've truly enjoyed surfing around your blog posts. After all I'll be subscribing to your rss feed and I hope you write again soon!